Ipad

We all know who's going to win in an iPad versus iPad 2 drop test -- gravity, of course. But which generation holds up better in a face-to-sidewalk meeting? With a stack of iPads old and new, the good folks at SquareTrade happily took on this question. They dropped the new iPad and its older sister, iPad 2, from several different heights with the screens facing up and facing down. In the drop from waist level face up, the iPad 2, you see from the real-time and slow-motion replay, survives intact, despite a good thud.

Finally, iPad users can get LinkedIn. And the app for this tablet, released Thursday, really is more than a reformatted iPhone app. The app was designed with the functionality of the iPad and users' tablet tapping mostly in the morning and evening in mind, according to a blog post from LinkedIn. The layout is a bit reminiscent of Flipboard, with a design that integrates the multitouch navigation of the iPad. "This 'Coffee & Couch' behavior is so pronounced that we designed our new app to make every professional feel like they have their own personal assistant," it reads.

Re "A tablet, not a cure-all," Column, Oct. 15 Sandy Banks raises very good points about the ill-conceived rollout of Apple iPads to students in the Los Angeles Unified School District. I am not a Luddite, and I definitely believe that students can benefit from technology, but too many executive types (read: Supt. John Deasy) succumb to the techno-lust brought on by slick sales and marketing folks. Too many decisions in education and business are made at the "blue sky" level and don't really take into consideration what will be needed to avoid obvious (and not so obvious)

The Apple iPad rumor mill is an unyielding beast, spawning new speculation even mere hours before product unveils, and the iPad 3, which is expected to debut Wednesday at 10 a.m., is no different. The absolute latest such rumor is that Apple's next iPad will be offered with a $99 warranty called AppleCare+ that will cover any damage, including something as simple as dropping your iPad and cracking the glass display on the face of the device. If AppleCare+ , which made its debut with the iPhone 4S last fall, is offered for the next iPad, it would be a step up from the two-year repair service warranty currently offered for $79 under the standard AppleCare warranty that doesn't cover such painfully damaging mistakes.

Best Buy has cut $50 off Apple's iPad 2 ahead of what many expect will be the launch of the iPad 3 as early as March 7 . Best Buy quietly rolled out the price drops over the weekend for every variation of iPad 2 offered -- so the starting price of the 16-gigabyte, Wi-Fi-only iPad 2 is down to $449.99 from $499.99 and the most expensive iPad, 64-gigabytes with Wi-Fi and 3G capability, is down to $779.99 from $829.99. Officials at Best Buy declined to comment on just what motivated the price cut, but the iPad rumor mill is pointing to the discount as a sign that the iPad 3 (as many journalists and analysts have dubbed the next iPad)

Apple kicked off the launch of its new iPad mini and fourth-generation iPad tablets by selling 3 million units, combined, in the first weekend. The company did not break out separate sales numbers for the two products. Counting them together, the Cupertino company said it sold twice as many iPads as it did when it launched the third-generation iPad in March, its previous first-weekend record for tablets. “Customers around the world love the new iPad mini and fourth-generation iPad,” said Apple CEO Tim Cook in a statement.

Sure, the reviewers are gushing about the retina display, the faster chip and the better camera on the new iPad, of course. But do real people really get it? As it turns out, for some people the distinction between the new hotness and the iPad 2 is a little fuzzy. Despite some dramatic “my eyes, my eyes!” declarations of the iPad experience forever having been ruined by the clarity of the new iPad's retina display compared with the screen of the iPad 2, the casual user doesn't seem able to easily see a difference between the two - other than the $100 difference in price.

Rumors about Apple's next iPad -- or iPads -- are showing no signs of slowing, and once again speculation is circulating that the Cupertino, Calif. tech giant is working on a smaller form factor. On Tuesday, the Wall Street Journal, citing unnamed sources working for Asian suppliers, reported that Apple is working with those suppliers to build prototypes of an 8-inch iPad . "One person said the smaller device will have a similar resolution screen as the iPad 2," the Journal said.

For as long as we can remember, or at least for the last several months, we've all dubbed the device that Apple is widely expected to announce next week as the "iPad mini. " But now a notable Apple blogger is saying the Cupertino, Calif., company may not name the device "mini" after all. John Gruber of Daring Fireball in a post offered two other possibilities for the name of the rumored 7.85-inch screen tablet. The blogger said he believes the device is more likely to be named the "iPad Air" or simply the "iPad.

It's a rumor that won't die: Apple and a 7-inch iPad. On Thursday, Ezra Gottheil, an analyst with Technology Business Research , told Computerworld that he expects Apple to release an iPad in a 7-inch screen size later this year, after a speculated March introduction of an iPad 3 with a 9.7-inch touchscreen. The first generation iPad and the iPad 2 have both had 9.7-inch displays, with a 1024 x 768 pixel resolution, and while the rumor of a 7-inch iPad has been persistent, it's also one that many analysts and tech pundits have shot down in the past.